When it all comes crashing down
by lizzieten
Summary: what if Dean hadn't gotten on the plane with Sam during phantom traveler. limp sam
1. Chapter 1

When it all comes crashing down

Chapter one

Hearing the door open, Dean Winchester reached under his pillow and wrapped his hand around the handle of the blade he kept under there for security purposes.

Rolling over onto his side and he turned and faced the door to see who was coming in, he breathed out a sigh of relief when he realized it was only Sam coming through the door.

"What time is it?" Dean asked as Sam approached his bed with a coffee in each hand.

"About five forty five" he replies handing a cup to Dean as he sat down on his own bed across from Dean's.

"In the morning" Dean questions, and Sam nodded and sat down on the other king sized bed.

"Where does the day go?" Dean grumbled Sam shrugs and reaches up and rubs the back of his neck. He was still tired from yet another night of next to no sleep.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Dean asked concerned as he took note of the tiredness in his brother's posture.

"Yeah, a couple of hours" Sam lied smoothly hoping it would throw Dean off his case.

"Liar" Dean scoffed "because I was up at three and you were watching a George Forman infomercial." Sam shrugged carelessly before replying.

"What can I say it's riveting TV" Dean just shook his head. Sam had been having nightmares for months now and quite frankly it was really starting to concern Dean. He hated that Sam was suffering silently instead of just talking about it with him. Dean didn't like chick flick moments but he would have done anything to ease the burden that was currently lying on his little brother's shoulders. He could understand why Sam would still be having them a few weeks after his girlfriend died considering the horrendous way it had happened. But things had to change soon Sam couldn't keep going on the way they were. You couldn't not sleep forever eventually your body would start to shut down.

"When was the last time you had a good night's sleep?" Sam just shrugged again.

"I don't know a little while I guess. It's not a big deal" Sam couldn't get the image of Jess burning on the ceiling out of his mind. What really didn't help was the fact that Sam had dreamed about it for days before it happened, and then he had taken off on that hunt with Dean, not that he blamed his brother for anything that had happened. But maybe if he hadn't gone, she would still be alive. He couldn't tell any of this to Dean for fear that Dean would think he was crazy. In all honesty Sam had thought he was crazy until it had happened and the love of his life was gone forever, now the only thing he felt was anger and guilt, it was his fault that she was gone.

"Yeah it is" Dean commented watching Sam shuffle uncomfortably on his bed.

"I appreciate your concern" he started but Dean quickly interrupted.

"I'm not concerned about you" Dean lied "it's your job to keep my ass alive so I need you sharp." Sam sighed and looked away. Dean was concerned even if he was lying about it and he knew it.

"Seriously though are you still having nightmares about Jess?"

"Yeah but it's not just her it's everything, it's the job." He really didn't want to be talking about Jess with Dean. His brother could never understand the guilt he felt, Sam might as well have been the one to kill her himself. Dean would try to convince him that that wasn't true but how was it not his fault, he left her and alone and she was murdered by something supernatural. He had known it was going to happen even if he hadn't realized it at the time.

"You can't let the job get to you" Dean said breaking Sam out of his thoughts. It was easier to say that but much harder to live it.

"So what? All this it never keeps you up at night?"

"Nope" Dean replied.

"You're telling me you're never afraid?"

"No not really" Dean said as he stood and stretched stiff muscles. Sam silently reached over and grabbed pulled out the knife Dean kept under his pillow. Sam looked at Dean pointedly, calling his brother a liar without actually saying the words.

"That's not fear that's precaution" Dean said chuckling at the expression on Sam's face.

"Whatever you say" Sam muttered and sat back on the bed. Five minutes later Dean's cell phone rang.

"Hello" Dean answered. Sam watched his brother and silently listened to the conversation. He knew without a doubt it would be about another hunt and for that he was glad. Because it meant he would have to focus on the job and not his guilt

Dean was off the phone a few minutes later and he started gathering the clothes he had strewn about the room when he'd been searching his prized blade. While doing this he explained how he had met Jerry Panowski and how he currently related to their latest hunt.

"Jerry prefers that we talk face to face so get moving" Dean told Sam as he finished cramming his clothes back into his duffle. Sam climbed off the bed and walked across the room and grab the bag he'd already had packed since they had stopped last night.

A half hour later they were on the road to another hunt that was to provide a distraction to the youngest Winchester. The longer they traveled the more Sam seemed to sink into his thoughts, and the guiltier he felt. He still had a life and Jess didn't, it was a wonder her parents didn't hate him but they didn't. He had met them briefly at Jessica's funeral before he had disappeared from Stanford. His friends just thought he was taking a short break to deal with his grief but Sam had no intentions of ever returning to that college even if he did try to attempt to go to another college. None of that would matter if Sam didn't find the monster responsible for ruining Sam's happiness.

A few hours later they had reached their destination, Dean had watched Sam out of the corner of his eye the whole time. Sam put on a good front with pretending he was okay, but Dean sensed there was still a hell of a lot guilt underneath the smiles Sam would give people. Dean wished he knew what to do to help, he couldn't stand to see his little brother so angry yet so guilty at the same time. He sighed as he turned into a nondescript looking hotel; it was another cheap hotel in yet another town. It wouldn't matter what the place looked like as long as they could get some sleep at night. Sam waited in the car while Dean went and checked in. it took less than five minutes and then Dean was back and pulling around to their room. They proceeded to drop their bags off then went to meet Jerry at the airport.

Once they parked and got out Dean spotted Jerry waiting for them at the entrance to his office, Dean introduced Sam to Jerry as soon as they had reached him.

"Thanks for making the trip so quick, I ought to be doing you guys a favor not the other way around. Your brother and Dad really helped me out" Jerry said as they walked through the building to get to his office.

"He said it was a poltergeist" Sam said.

"Damn right practically tore our house apart, anyways I have something I want you to hear and normally I wouldn't have access to this but since it was one of our planes that went down. It's the cockpit voice recorder when I gave it a listen I thought of you. it sounds like something you take care of." Jerry sat down behind his computer hit play on the media player and gave the occupants of the room the sound of the doomed plane's cockpit just before it went down. They listened for a few minutes and frowned when they heard an eerie sounding noise, if they could slow it down Sam was sure it was some kind of voice.

"the plane took off and crashed about two hundred miles south, they're saying mechanical failure, cabin depressurized somehow, anyways a friend of mine was the pilot he was real tore up about like it was his fault"

"You don't think it was?" Sam asked leaning forward in his chair.

"No, I don't" Jerry replied.

"We're going to need manifests and a list survivor's" Sam said looking forward to the distraction it would prove to be,

"Is there any way we could get a look at the wreckage?" Dean asked.

"The other stuff yeah, the wreckage the NTSB has it locked down in the warehouse, there's no way I have that kind of clearance." Dean threw a look at Sam, it wouldn't be all that hard for them to get in there and find what they needed.

A few hours later Sam and Dean had managed to track down and speak to a couple of the survivors or their remaining family members. They however didn't find anything to even begin to guess what had caused the plane to go down until the spoke to a Max Jaffey who was now a patient at the local mental hospital. When they were able to cut through his bullshit and actually get him to tell them what he had seen. They were able to start putting the pieces together, and thus far it hadn't been a very flattering picture. When they had returned to the hotel, Sam had set about working on the voice recording to discover the voice saying no survivors. Which only served to confuse both the Winchesters even further, they decided then they had to get into to see the plane to see if it would at least confirm their thoughts that it was a possible ghost or demon problem. After sneaking into the warehouse and getting a look at the plane. Sam had discovered a residue on the cabin door on the plane, after having some scraped off and having it tested it came back as sulpher.

While Sam was busy researching the demon angle, Dean's phone rang.

"Hello" he said.

"It's Jerry, Chuck Lambert is dead" Jerry said "He was killed in a plane crash, just forty minutes into the flight just like the other plane" Dean frowned, they needed to figure things out quite soon. After hanging up, Dean told Sam what he had been told.

"No survivors" Sam said "that's what we heard on the recording, so whatever this is didn't anyone to survive off the first plane, and seven did which means it's going after the survivors and it's going to finish what it started."

Dean and Sam both grabbed the supplies they knew they would need for taking care of a demon possession and headed toward the car. They would have to call the other few survivors on the way and find out if any of them would be flying anytime soon. Sam went through each number on the list and found out all but one wouldn't be flying. The last one Amanda was flying again for the first time since the accident.

"We have to stop her from getting on that plane" Dean said after Sam had tracked her down to the airport she would be leaving from. Sam having found her cell phone number online dialed the number and listened as the phone rang again and again.

"She's not answering" Sam said frustrated He wasn't going to let another innocent girl die because of a demon. Amanda wasn't going to become another Jessica, sacrificed just because she was there. They couldn't let it happen.

"Even with the way you drive" Sam said leaning his head back against the headrest. "We won't make it by the time her plane takes off."

"Watch me" Dean said his foot pressing down harder on the gas. They would get there on time even if he had to press his baby to the limit. He hoped they would be able to deal with this situation without having to board a plane, if that was the case he didn't know how it was going to work out because he was terrified of flying, not that he was going to tell Sam that of course.

They arrived at the airport with barely thirty minutes to spare. They had continued to call Amanda's cell phone but they had never gotten an answer so now they had to find her as quickly as possible and keep her from boarding. They found a phone and had Amanda paged although if that didn't work Sam was already working on another plan of action, one that would actually have them board the plane.

Once Dean had Amanda on the phone, he lied and tried to say her sister had been involved in an accident. Amanda however proved to be sharper than Dean had thought and saw right through the lie and called him on it. Dean tried to charm her into staying off the plane, still she refused saying she had to start working again sometime, that being said she hung up on Dean and went to board the plane.

"Dammit" Dean cursed frustrated he had tried everything he could think of but she was still determined to fly. He was still cursing when he saw Sam walk back up to him and hand him a ticket.

"What the hell is that?" Dean asked.

"The only way this is getting solved is if we're on the plane" Sam replied missing the look of stark terror in Dean's eyes.

Dean groaned he had been dreading this moment. Hearing Dean Sam looked at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh no"

"What? What's wrong?" Sam asked worried that all the junk food Dean had been eating was getting to him.

"I uh have this problem with"

"Flying" Sam interrupted taking notice of the fact Dean's face had gone pale white.

"It's never been a problem until now" Dean said when he saw the frustrated look on Sam's face.

"Fine" Sam said "I'll do this one on my own. I think I'm more than capable of taking care of one demon." That being said he turned and left his brother standing in his wake completely frozen as he went to board the plane with the few items he'd brought to combat the problem.

Twenty minutes later Sam was settled into his seat and waiting for the plane to take off. While he was waiting he scanned the people around him for signs of nervousness. One thing was for sure if he didn't want to die he had to find the demon and exorcise it quickly. Sam sighed and leaned his head back against the rest; he was starting to feel the stress of the moment. He had more than a hundred lives in his hands, it was a huge responsibility and he hoped he could do something about the demon. His brother would kill him if something happened to him and he wasn't around to help.

In fact Dean was already kicking himself mentally for not having gone with Sam and by the time he had decided that Sam was going to need help and he went to try to board the plane, it was too little too late, the plane had already taken off.

"You're ass better walk of that plane" Dean grumbled feeling guilty for leaving his brother to deal with something that had the tendency to be extremely difficult to deal with. He sucked in a breath and went and found a seat, he was hoping that once the demon had been dealt with they would reroute the plane back to this airport. Even while he was waiting, he had started to get sinking feeling in his stomach that told him Winchester luck was about to show its face and things were going to go sideways.

"Why the hell do you have to be a coward" Dean muttered out loud to the detriment of the person sitting beside him. he was getting more nervous by the minute, and the feeling that things were going to go wrong got stronger and stronger.

Up in the air, Sam had gotten out of his seat and was wondering the isle, with his EMF reader, he had gone through business class and was now working on first class, but thus far he hadn't had any luck. No one was showing signs of demon possession or a signs of being a nervous flyer which meant the demon had already found someone and Sam needed to hurry up to find him or her. Even as he thought this he felt the plane start to take a nosedive, and at the speed they were going Sam was thrown to the floor, losing the EMF reading as he went. He grunted and tried to get back to his feet but the force of gravity kept him pinned to the ground. He wished then that he had forced Dean to come with him after all there was no better way to deal with fear other than to face it, if Dean had been with him he would have had the time to find the demon responsible.

Sam reached out and grabbed one of the seats and managed to pull himself up only for a metal suitcase to come flying out of the luggage compartment and slam into the back of his head, knocking him out cold immediately. Sam hit the floor right before the plane hit the ground, twisting and tearing the metal apart. Sam flew out of the large opening made by the plane splitting in two and landed several feet from the wreckage, a few seconds later he was covered with a heavy sheet of metal, one jagged piece, stabbing him clear through to his spine.

Meanwhile back at the airport, Dean had gotten tired of sitting so he had stood up and paced. He was feeling guiltier by the minute if anything at all happened to Sam it would be his fault. If Sam died, his blood was on Dean's hands. He sucked in a harsh breath and had to sit down for moment, he was starting to hyperventilate and he despretly needed to calm down, Sam would be fine, he was a damn good hunter and for once Winchester luck would leave him alone. No matter how many times Dean tried telling himself this he wasn't able to convince himself that Sam was going to be fine, after all he never was if Dean wasn't with him. Having forced himself to calm down Dean glanced at the TV in the corner of the waiting area. The blood drained out of his face as he realized they were reporting the crash of the plane 1408.

TBC?

**Hope you liked it, I have stayed up all night for three nights trying to get this right and I'm still not too happy with it. The idea for this story came from the fact I will be flying to Chicago later next year, and it got me thinking about the episode phantom traveler and what could happen if Dean hadn't gotten on the plane. anyways thanks for reading and reviewing hope you like it. Liz**


	2. Chapter 2

When it all comes crashing down

Chapter 2

Dean stared at the TV disbelievingly, Sam's plane had gone down, and the demon doing the damage meant for there to be no survivors. Did that mean Sam was dead?

"Oh god" Dean mumbled and felt like hurling. This was the fate he'd left Sam to. Looking around him, Dean searched for the nearest restroom. His stomach couldn't handle the stress of the situation. Finding it a few short seconds later, Dean made a mad dash towards nearly plowing over the guy coming out of the restroom. Without apologizing Dean found the nearest unoccupied stall and dropped to his knees in front of the toilet, and he let the sickness flow.

A few minutes later Dean felt completely empty, sitting back he rested his back against the stall door. He breathed deeply trying to calm the panic he was currently feeling. One thing was for certain he had to find Sam, he needed to know his brother's condition so he could make the appropriate plans. The thought of his brother being dead made Dean feel sick again, sick and guilty that he had made Sam board that doomed plane alone.

Breathing deeply again, Dean stood and pulled himself together, his brother needed him and no matter what Sam's condition was, Dean was going to him, he wouldn't suffer alone. Dean exited the bathroom and headed towards the airports exit. It would be a long drive but one Dean was more than willing to make if his brother turned out to be okay. This plane had crashed forty minutes into the flight just as the other two had which means put it about two hundred miles west of Pennsylvania. It could have been a thousand miles away for all Dean cared the distance didn't matter, what did matter was the Sam was hurt possibly worse, nothing would keep Dean away. He wouldn't stop until he got to what was left of the plane.

A few short minutes later Dean was exiting the airport and hitting the interstate. He tried not to dwell on the many possibilities of Sam's condition; he would make himself crazy if he didn't try to focus on something else. Somehow images of his little brother dying alone kept popping into his side, along with a Sam with missing limbs bleeding out alone in a field the rescue crew miles away from where he laid just the thought of no one finding Sam nearly made Dean pull off onto the shoulder. Taking a deep breath Dean tried to focus on the road, he wouldn't do Sam any good if he ended up in a wreck himself. Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, he pressed down harder on the gas pedal, feeling the smooth response as the engine sped up. He smiled if the situation wasn't so dire he would be enjoying the smooth ride. Sam had to be alive, Dean had to believe that otherwise Dean would go crazy.

Suddenly the sound of his phone ringing broke him out of his thoughts. Reaching into his pocket he pulled the phone out and checked the caller ID. It as Bobby Singer.

"Hey Bobby" Dean said as he flipped open the phone and answered it.

"I have a job for you and your brother" Bobby said in way of greeting. "it's pretty nasty whatever it is."

"Now's not a good time for a hunt" Dean said fear nearly choking again as he thought about Sam. he had a desperate desire to get to Sam and protect him from whatever hell he would be going through.

"Something is taking planes down, this is the third one in a few days" Bobby said "Flight 1408 just went down not too long ago." Dean swallowed hard. Of course Bobby would figure something out about the planes where no one else would think of it.

"Sam was on 1408" Dean said and was met with a shocked silence.

"What was Sam doing on that plane?" Bobby asked.

"We had gotten a call from someone me and dad had helped out not too long ago, he figured this would be something we would be interested in. long story short we ended up at the airport and Sam ended up on the plane." Dean replied feeling even more guilty.

"Why was he on the plane alone?" Bobby asked something was going on Dean wouldn't have normally let Sam walk into a situation like that without help. He was an overprotective older brother and god help anyone who tried to hurt Sam.

"He thought he could deal with it on his own" Dean muttered.

"And why weren't you with him?"

"I have an issue about flying" Dean grumbled hating to admit to it.

"Is a fear of flying worth losing your brother over?" Bobby wondered out loud.

"Not to worry if he comes out of this one alive and we have to deal with something like this again. I won't let him board the plane alone, I'm going to be a shadow he can get rid of." Dean said.

"Where are you now?"

"On my way to the wreckage" Dean replied "If the worst should happen he's not staying out there alone, I won't let him."

"You shouldn't be alone either" Bobby commented and Dean agreed with him but at the time being there was no one close by that he could get to come with him. "Tell me where to meet you and I will and we'll go to the site together." Dean did and they got off the phone a few minutes later. Bobby was like a father figure to both Sam and Dean but who he really needed right now was there actual father. Watching the road, Dean dialed his father's cell phone number and held it up to his ear. After a few rings he received the same message that he had gotten for the past few months trying to reach his dad.

"Dad, Sam's in trouble, he was on a plane and the plane went down. I'm not sure of his condition but I'm on my way to find out. Bobby's going to meet me there; I think you should too because I'm not sure how I'm going to find him. So if you get this message I'm begging you please come, we need you but most of all Sam needs you right now."

Hanging the phone up, Dean tossed the phone into the seat beside him. He didn't know if his dad would come or not but for Sam's sake he hoped he did. Sam needed John even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Sam you'd better hang on if you die on me I'm going to kill you." Dean muttered.

Meanwhile Rescue Crews were already on the ground searching for survivors. The scene had proven to be quite shocking for a few who had just started working in the service and had yet to experience a disaster on this scale.

As bodies started being pulled out there was an almost depressive spirit amongst the workers, they knew it wasn't possible that everyone would survive the terrible crash, so far no survivors had been found.

Jake Winters had been doing rescue missions such as the crash he was working on now, for going on ten years. Of all the crashes he had worked flight 1408 was the worst. He had already seen several severed limbs, and several of his coworkers had already lost their dinner. He couldn't blame them; a disaster on this scale was enough to make anyone sick especially since it meant that families had lost their loved ones.

Jake had just stepped on a piece of twisted metal when he heard a low moan of pain. He quickly hopped off and pulled the piece of metal up. What he saw shocked him, he had found another victim but unlike the others this one was still alive but if he didn't hurry he wouldn't be much longer from the looks of him. The young man had a piece of medal that was piercing his stomach and it made Jake wonder how he was still alive, wounds to the stomach tended to be fatal but he hoped this kid proved him wrong. He knelt down after calling for a stretcher and began to access the guy's injuries. Just from running his hands down the man's body, Jake could tell he had several broken bones, he had several broken ribs and from what it sounded like he had a punctured lung. Jake didn't even want to know what else was going on with him, just from the outside the kid was pretty bad off. he hated that someone this young had to be injured so badly, if he lived he had one hell of a long recovery ahead of him. Jake wondered if the guy had anybody who cared about him, not everyone did of course and Jake had found a few but he hoped this one did.

"I suspect he has several internal injuries to go along with his external injuries" Jake said as he helped the medics stabilize the piece of metal going through his stomach as they loaded him onto a stretcher.

While they were loading the young man into the waiting ambulance Jake saw a cell phone fall from the man's shredded jacket pocket. Picking it up he prayed that it worked and that it would contain the number of someone who cared about him. Surprisingly the phone did work, so Jake tried the first person on speed dial.

"Hello" a tired sounding voice answered.

"Dean?" Jake asked.

"Who is this and why are you calling from my brother's phone?" the man said and he sounded agitated.

"You're brother was found in a plane crash" Jake began.

"I know he was in the crash I'm on way there. How is he?" Dean demanded.

"He's alive but he is in critical condition" Jake said and paused as he heard Dean curse.

"I won't bother with going into specifics but you should hurry and get here" Jake said "it's not looking good and instead of coming to the crash site I would head straight to the hospital"

"What hospital is he being taken too?"

"Hardin Memorial" Jake said "Do you need directions."

"I can find it" Dean said and hung up. He was relieved to know that his brother was alive. But he was worried about Sam's condition; the guy had said he was critical. At least he was alive though, that had to count for something. Then something occurred to Dean if Sam had survived the crash did that mean the demon would come back and try to kill Sam? The though bothered Dean he hoped to hell it wouldn't but if it did he would be prepared that son of a bitch wasn't getting Sam without a fight.

A few hours later Dean was meeting Bobby in the emergency room parking lot. He had called Bobby and told him about the call he had received. Bobby was just as relieved as Dean had been when he had been told the youngest Winchesters condition. They were both worried but they were glad to know that he hadn't been killed in the initial crash.

Having parked the walked into the ER and Dean found the help desk and immediately asked about his brother.

"He's a tall shaggy haired guy would have been brought in with the other airplane crash victims" Dean asked the good looking blonde behind the desk.

"I know who you're talking about, he's in surgery right now, he was pretty badly injured" Amy said gently knowing the news was going to hit the guy hard and she was right it did.

"Will he make it through?" Dean asked barely able to keep the fear out of his voice.

"I don't know" Amy said "and not to make you feel guilty but so far he was the only victim brought in alive." Dean swallowed hard it wasn't the best news, and he felt bad for the other victims family but he was glad his brother was still hanging on.

As Dean made his way over to where Bobby was sitting, Dean didn't see the tall dark man that had been standing in the shadows. A worried frown on his face, he turned away as Dean passed now wasn't the time to make his presence known.

Okay hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and anybody care to guess where I got the flight number 1408? Anyways thanks for reading and reviewing and have Happy Thanksgiving. Liz


	3. Chapter 3

When it all comes crashing down

Chapter 3

Dean sat down beside Bobby and sighed they would be in for a very long night.

"He's in surgery right now" Dean told Bobby "The nurse wasn't able to tell me much about his injuries except that he's critical which what do you expect from someone who survived a plane crash. She also told me that so far Sam has been the only one brought in still alive. Which makes me wonder if the demon won't try again?"

"I guess that depends on how things go here" Bobby said "if he doesn't make there is no sense in just coming after a body, if he lives I almost bet he will." Dean frowned he didn't like the thought of that. He would have to make sure wherever they put Sam the room would be well protected.

"I called dad but got the same old message, I just hope he comes" Dean sighed "They really need mend their fences."

"They're both plenty stubborn but if John understands the seriousness of the situation I think he'll come" Bobby said praying that he was right and the oldest Winchester wouldn't abandon his children when they most needed him. If John didn't show up and he lost Sam Bobby knew John would regret it for the rest of his life.

"I still can't believe I let him get on that plane alone. I knew it was going to do down and I still let him board it alone, some brother I am" Dean muttered.

"Just because you're afraid to fly doesn't make you a bad brother it just means your human" Bobby said "but that doesn't mean you should have let your fear have control over you."

"I suppose your right" Dean said running his hands through his hair. He was exhausted; it had been one hell of a long day. It had been a very long three hours on the road. At the speeds he'd been going it had been a wonder he hadn't run into the police, had he done so he would have had one hell of a ticket but Dean wasn't letting something called a speed limit stop him from getting to Sam.

"Maybe you should find a place to hole up" Bobby suggested as he took in Dean's exhausted posture. "I'll call when I find anything out."

"No way in hell Bobby" Dean said sitting up "No matter how long it takes I'm staying here."

Bobby shook his head; Dean was just as stubborn as his old man and his younger brother. He wasn't a bit surprised that Dean refused to leave. He couldn't really blame him though considering how serious the situation was. He just hoped they wouldn't have to wait much longer, Dean would pass out from exhaustion.

Four hours and an empty waiting room later a grey haired doctor came out of the operating room and headed towards Dean and Bobby with a grim look on his face.

"I take it you're the Winchesters" he stated as he stood in front of them.

"I'm Dean Winchester he's Bobby Singer our uncle" Dean said nodding towards Bobby. "How's Sammy?"

"He made it through the surgery, we had a couple of scares when he went into cardiac arrest, which wasn't really surprising considering how badly injured he is."

"Something tells me he's worse than you're saying" Dean muttered.

"I think we should discuss this is my office" Dr. Harris said.

"Why nobody else is here, so you can just go on and spill the beans." Dean muttered.

"You're brother has suffered a broken back along with the piece of metal that damn near severed his spine, if he lives I don't think he'll walk again. Along with the spinal injury he has several broken ribs two of which punctured his lung, during surgery his lung collapsed, we've been having trouble reflating it but we are continuing to try. He's on a respirator to avoid the lung any further." Dr. Harris said not liking the way the young man before him paled considerably.

"From the look on your face" Bobby said "That's not the worst news."

"I'm afraid not" Dr. Harris said, "Sam has suffered a very severe traumatic head injury. Due to something hitting him blunt force he has a skull fracture that has induced bleeding in his brain. We performed a cat scan and found the bleeding, which could cause brain damage depending on how bad the bleed is."

"I can live with Sam not walking and or being brain damaged" Dean muttered "just as long as I know he's going to live."

"Things are looking pretty rough but I have seen tougher cases where the victim survived."

"Is Sam awake from the surgery yet I want to talk to him about something that happened." Dean asked.

"I'm afraid that Sam has slipped into a coma due to the head injury" Dr. Harris said hating that at the moment he'd had nothing but bad news to tell the family.

Dean felt like getting sick, the odds were really stacked against Sam but if anybody could survive Sam could. After all the doctor had said he'd seen worst cases survive their injuries.

"My god" Bobby said hating what he was hearing just as much as Dean was. Who knew that Sam would have been so badly injured? He wondered if it would even be better if Sam didn't make it, that way he wouldn't have to suffer so much. But then he felt guilty Dean needed his brother to be okay. _John you had better get your ass here your boys need you right now. _Bobby thought. Not seeing that there was still one man hiding in the shadows not far from where they sat. He had heard every word of the doctor's diagnosis and what he had heard had made him sick. If he'd been there for his boys from the start than maybe none of this would have happened.

Without anyone seeing him the man slipped away and down the hall towards the Intensive care unit. He had something he needed to before he took care of his other business. While the nurses weren't looking he slipped into the room, the sight before him, hurt him in ways he'd never hurt before.

Sam was lying still and pale hooked up to a respirator that was doing his breathing for him. A tube stuck out of the side of the chest from where the doctors were trying to re- inflate his lung. His bare chest was wrapped in bandages some still slowly seeping blood from the surgery he had just come through. He was hooked to a heart monitor that let the man know that at the moment Sam was holding his own despite the grim prognosis.

"I'll be back Sam, but until I do your brother is going to be staying right here beside you. I don't think you'll have to worry about being alone for long." That being said the man turned and walked out of the room and past the surgical waiting room where the doctor was still talking to Dean and Bobby passed.

"How long will Sam be in the coma?" Dean asked worried even more for his little brother.

"There is no way of telling, right now Sam's brain is swelling and if it doesn't stop on its own we're going to have to go through surgery again and drill a small hole in the skull to release the pressure."

Dean sighed and rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. His exhaustion was really wearing on him along with the shock of all of Sam's injuries. Things were not going well for the Winchesters at all proving that they had the worst luck on the planet.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's a little shorter than usual I'm just a tad exhausted after everything. I'm not a nurse or a medical professional or anything but I did look up the head injury info online. I just hope it makes sense. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Have a great week. Liz.**


	4. Chapter 4

When it all comes crashing down

Chapter four:

Dean stared at the doctor, he had heard him say he'd seen patients get over worse than that but Dean wasn't sure how. If the kid lived he wouldn't be hunting for a long, long time. Sam would have to be put into physical therapy and depending on the depth of the brain damage more therapy for that as well. Not everybody recovered well from brain damage; he prayed that wouldn't be the case for Sam. Dean could feel all the stress compiling on him, it had been a long day already but knowing his brother's diagnosis just added to Dean's already exhausted state. He slumped down in his chair feeling the stress and worry take over. He still couldn't help feeling guilty that his own brother was now fighting for his life.

"I'm a freakin' coward" Dean muttered and then wondered out loud if his fear of flying was worth losing Sam over. His answer was a resounding hell no. if there was ever another hunt on a plane that Sam would be able to do, he wasn't going alone. Fear wasn't worth what he was facing now.

"Sam needs you to be strong not to be losing your marbles" Bobby said as Dr. Harris walked away.

"I know that Bobby" Dean sighed and dragged his hand down his face, he was exhausted beyond words but he wasn't leaving until he got to see his brother maybe not even then if he could talk the nurse into letting him stay.

"I guess you're going to be staying with Sam as soon as they let you?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, it's my job to take care of him; I'm not letting someone else do it, besides I want to be here to talk the kid away from the edge should it come to that." Dean said and stood as a nurse came to get him.

"Call me if anything happens" Bobby said "I'm going to the hotel and then I'm going to see if I can track you're old man down." _And kick his ass if need be_ Bobby thought  
"I will" Dean said as he started to follow the nurse down the hall.

"Be sure and get some rest yourself too" Bobby called knowing it wasn't likely to happen. Dean would be on guard all night to make sure Sam didn't slip into a more permanent state.

Dean just threw his hand up and waved as he disappeared towards the ICU. He didn't really know what to expect when he went to see Sam but he knew it was going to be bad. And he was right, Sam was incredibly still, the only noise in the room was from the respirator and the heart monitor.

Dean felt bile in the back of his throat; this was his worst nightmare come true. He wasn't sure he could handle it. He grabbed a chair and moved it to where it was sitting beside Sam's head. Sitting down Dean stared at his brother and swallowed hard several times.

"Sammy, don't know if you can hear me or not" he started softly "I'm sorry I didn't get on that plane, so damn sorry. If I had maybe you wouldn't be here now fighting just for your next breath of air. Nobody knows how long you'll be sleeping for, there's no exact date of return from a coma. But if you try to go anywhere that I can't yet follow trust me when I say I will kick your ass. Although you should be the one kicking my ass for letting you get on that plane." Dean said words couldn't explain just how guilty he felt for refusing to go on the plane and Dean knew there would be no way in hell that he could make this up. He wondered if Sam never walked again if he would hate Dean's guts. Then decided probably not, it just wasn't in Sam to really hate anything except hunting of course.

Sighing Dean sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, he desperately needed some rest and while the ICU wasn't the best place to be getting it, it was good enough. He had plenty of access to Sam and that was all that mattered right now, should anything go wrong he would be right there.

"Don't go anywhere Sammy" Dean muttered as he drifted off to sleep his worries and stress finally slowly melting away. He was abruptly awoken a few hours later to the sounds of the heart monitor going flat. Dean stared in horror as the nurses rushed him out the door. The last thing he heard before the door was shut was Sam's blood pressure was dropping rapidly. Dean stood in the hall against the wall waiting for what had seemed like ages for a Dr. Harris to come out and talk to him.

"Sammy, you are not allowed to do this to me" Dean muttered and then thought about Bobby telling him to call him if anything happened. He almost decided against it knowing Bobby was just as tired as he was as he'd had a much longer drive than Dean did. He grabbed his phone and dialed Bobby's number.

"Singer" a sleepy gruff voice answered on the first ring.

"It's Sam he's flatling" Dean said not wasting any time.

"What the hell?" Bobby said.

"That's what I want to know; when I went into the room he was doing as fine as a comatose person could. I don't know what went wrong and nobody is telling me anything yet."

"I'll be there in twenty" Bobby said hanging up. Dean was relieved he wasn't going to have to do this alone.

Ten minutes later Dean was surprised to see a dark blonde haired man coming toward him. Dean instantly wondered how the hell he knew something was going on with Sam.

"Caleb, what are you doing here?" Dean asked as the man approached him.

"You're father called me and told me about Sam" Caleb replied and Dean frowned. John had been in contact with Caleb and not his own sons. That bothered him more than Dean was willing to admit.

"How is he?" Caleb asked feeling more than a little concerned for the youngest Winchester.

"Bad" Dean replied and went on and explained what the doctors had told him about Sam's condition.

"Only the Winchesters could find themselves in this situation" Caleb muttered.

"When did Dad call you and tell you about Sam?" Dean asked figuring he had gotten Dean's message and had sent Caleb to check on Sam in his place.

"Fifteen minutes ago" Caleb replied.

"So the man does know about Sam's condition and yet he doesn't show up." Dean growled feeling angry at his father.

"John's been here to see Sam that's how he knows about his condition and trust me when I say he knows everything. He called me to help him take care of the demon that put Sam in here in the first place. I'm supposed to see what's going on with Sam tonight and report back to him and then we're supposed to take care of the monster before it comes after Sam again."

"Then why the hell haven't I seen him here?" Dean asked wondering exactly what his father was up too.

"That I can't tell you" Caleb replied "But trust me when I saw John truly does care about what happens to you boys; he wouldn't have wanted this to happen to either of you. I figure in his time you'll get to see him face to face."

Dean shrugged either he would or he wouldn't he wouldn't place any bets on John trying to be a father any time soon.

"What's going on with Sam?" Dean asked the door to Sam's room was opened and he was rushed out of the room on a gurney.

"He's bleeding out, he's got an internal bleed that we need to fix." Dr. Harris said stopping in front of the two men. "He's being taken back into surgery, to fix it."

"How did you miss it the first time?" Dean asked feeling extremely protective over his little brother.

"Believe it or not it's rather easy to do" Dr. Harris said "especially if you're not looking for it. remember we were trying to fix the damage to his lung and remove the piece of metal that had been embedded in his stomach."

"You better get it taken care of this time" Dean growled and the doctor knowing that Dean was just worried about his brother, ignored his tone and turned and followed the gurney down towards the operating room.

**Last chapter before I go to bed. hope you enjoy and remember this story is NOT a deathfic. Sam's going to have a long hard road ahead of him but he WILL live. That being said thanks for reading and reviewing and have a great week. Liz.**


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